The London Assembly Labour group have released figures showing the fall in local police numbers since 2010. They say:

Latest figures released by the Mayor of London show that 68 police officers have been cut in Lewisham, a drop of 10% since May 2010. The latest figures show that despite the Mayor’s pledge to increase police numbers, the opposite is happening on his watch. The cut in police officers comes after criticism of the Mayor’s new Local Policing Model which Len Duvall AM argues is eroding neighbourhood policing in the borough.

The number of borough-based police officers in Lewisham has dropped from 680 in May 2010 to 613 in January 2014. Across London, the number of police officers has declined by 3,111 (9%).

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i found them fine when i got broken into, took a while to turn up as they we're short on numbers!

also, street police may be reassuring (to some) but is that the be all and end all? policing is about office work, serving warrants, questioning etc not just wondering around in uniform like glorified security guards.

That is true about crime levels. But it doesn't necessarily follow that police numbers should fall - the alternative is that you keep the same number of police to improve the detection rate and cut crime even faster...

Still, I do think that some cut in numbers is appropriate at a time of falling crime and squeezed public finances. The question is whether - like so many aspects of government spending - this has been "too far, too fast"?

I recently fell victim to this reduction.Accompanied a friend to Lewisham station who the police wanted to talk to. Spoke to the civilian at the desk and he told us to step inside the adjoining cubicle. We did - and with that a glass door slammed shut trapping us. The civvy refused to open it saying my friend was wanted for 'questioning'. But how about me? Kept us over an hour until the police came, said my friend was free to leave - whenever he wanted? - and the doors were then opened.Got a call later from the inspector to apologise.NEVER AGAIN WILL I (WILLINGLY) STEP INTO LEWISHAM POLICE STATION..

I'm going to sue the Met Police for 10 thousand pounds a minute for every minute of my incarceration. I'm also going for damages for the humiliation as my cell was glass-sided - and therefore, viewable by the law-abiding public. Then there's the institutional racism. I was expecting it. Did not receive it. And that is most... well, I'd rather not dwell on it. But it was the threat of, possibly, maybe, being tasered that has left me truly traumatised. With what Bernard Hogan-Howe may have to shell out in damages that will amount to 100 less police officers on the streets.Christmas has come early for me.

My sympathies on your incarceration, you must have felt like a goldfish, I'm surprised at how long they lasted ;)

I suppose you must have used your pseudonym David Blaine, they clearly didn't buy into Mandela or Julian Assange this time around, but I can see the confusion.

Next time you could take a door wedge, a glass cutter or a good book ;) Alternatively tweet #free the brockley 2 @Brockley Nick and we'll start a online petition for your immediate release... this side of Christmas ;)

I truly, truly, hope that is the case, but my cynical side is aware that how crime figures are recorded has also changed. That said, on the two occasions I've had to call them out I'm grateful to say they responded quickly. And perhaps Community Support Officers and the new neighbourhood teams might make a difference.